


Fighting chance

by KellyDrake6



Series: Merlin [11]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: BAMF Merlin (Merlin), Gen, Good Mordred (Merlin), Knight Merlin (Merlin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:09:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28504260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KellyDrake6/pseuds/KellyDrake6
Summary: When arthur is struck down in the midst of fighting off bandits, hes stunned to find that merlin isn't as incompetent with a sword as he thought
Series: Merlin [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1968685
Comments: 8
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

He hadn't expected to be ambushed in a place where bandits didn't typically reside, nor did he expect to be outnumbered 7 to 1 with none of his knights close enough to help him, but when his sword was knocked clean out of his hand, landing too far for him to reach out and grab it after being knocked to the ground, arthur had to hope for some sort of miracle to get him out of his predicament. He wasn't expecting a battle cry so loud it caused everyone to pause for a few life saving seconds, long enough for arthur to roll out the way of a sword that was coming down at him at an alarmingly fast rate. 

He hadn't recognised the cry at all, he'd memorized all of the knights calls as it was something hes heard on a regular basis at this point, and because of the unfamiliarity of it he began to worry for the knights that had just come into view, though it was lancelot that got him to turn his attention elsewhere with the look of pure shock and elation on his face. What he saw when he found what the man was staring at was unbelievable. 

Merlin not only had a sword in his hand, but was winning a fight against three of the bandits that had struck arthur down, the way he fought was like nothing he'd seen before it was fast as it was clean, and he had an almost terrifying look on his face as he quickly moved on to helping leon overwhelm the enemy around him, standing back to back with him which caused leon to look over his shoulder and almost miss the bandit heading towards him in his shock.

As arthur focused on the sword in his manservants hands, he recognised it as Excalibur his own sword, which meant merlin must have been extraordinarily quiet in order to reach it before any of them realised he'd joined the fray, the way merlin moved from one knight to the other made it seem like he'd done this a million times, if arthur wasn't fully aware that merlin was his manservant then he would have mistaked him for a wandering knight, who had stumbled upon them and graciously decided to help them. 

Due to him watching merlin, he hadn't noticed the bandit that had been hidden behind a tree, slowly making his way towards the king without being detected until Percival shouted "Arthur move!" He dove out the way just in time to avoid the incoming sword, which surely would have killed him if it had made contact, for a second time in less than 15 minutes the knights and king watched in shock as Excalibur stopped the other sword just as fast as the bandit had swung it, how merlin had manged to get from where mordred was standing at the furthest side of the battle field to where he was now was a complete and utter mystery. 

Arthur was now watching merlin's fighting skills up close and it was clear to see that he was overwhelming his opponent, with a cry that sounded like it was from his very core merlin ended the fight and the bandit dropped to the floor, now that he wasn't moving around constantly, arthur can see just how hard merlin was breathing before he slowly turned to face them. His eyes went to each man as if checking they were upright and unharmed, his gaze staying on Arthur the longest before he relaxed and looked down at the weapon he was holding, as if realising what he'd just done before holding it out for arthur to take. 

The silence that had fallen over them all was broken by gwaine "holy hell merlin! Where'd you learn to fight like that?!" He asked as he walked over to stand beside arthur, his eyes alight with joy and wonder as Merlin looked down at the attention he'd brought on himself "a mix of arthur training against me for years, fighting an immortal army, teaching myself and a hell of alot of adrenaline" he answered once his breathing was back under control, there was a low whistle from somewhere behind them belonging to elyan, who was watching everything unfold with a small smile "never knew you had it in you" he says and arthur who was still speechless nods in agreement which gets merlin to smile sheepishly.

Merlin eventually disapears to round up the spooked horses and arthur gets an idea "gentlemen, you've all just witnessed just how good merlin is with a sword and discovered the camaraderie that he showed each of you" he begins, which catches their undivided attention as they look at one another and nod with small smiles before looking back at him, taking it as a gesture to continue he looks at each man before saying "i wish to knight merlin, i want to hear what you have to say on the matter before bringing it up to him" he'd only just got the words 'knight merlin' out before their eyes lit up and they began talking over one another to try and get his attention.

Holding up a hand they quieten instantly "one at a time" he says, trying to sound authoritative but it came out more amused than anything else "will he have to go against you?" Was the first thing he heard from leon, which caused him to pause before nodding "of course, even though he's good at fighting he needs to show that he's loyal" theres a snort from lancelot but he doesn't say anything, at this point it's clear to even arthur that merlin's loyal to a fault "i agree with your judgement" elyan says in a tone so serious it causes arthur to look at him "I've never seen anyone use a sword like he did" he adds on. 

Arthur nods and looks over his men again and sees that both Mordred and lancelot look the most excited about the subject "all those in favour of knighting merlin say aye" he says and almost jumps at the volume of the 'aye's' yelled back at him. He smiles and nods at them before they all wander off into smaller groups, all of them discussing the previous topic with varying amounts of excitement and it looked like mordred was talking about merlins fighting technique. 

It wasn't long before merlin, along with all the round up horses made an appearance through the trees and was greeted with "our warrior returns!" From gwaine, which caused the rest of them to cheer as merlin chuckled quietly and tied the horses to a low hanging branch, before wandering towards them.

As if sensing that arthur wanted to speak to merlin alone, he noticed elyan gesture to the rest of the knights that they should go elsewhere, he vaugly caught that lance, percival and mordred were going to a stream that they could hear not too far from where they were, he sent them a greatful look before turning to watch merlin as he sat against a tree with his eyes closed. 

Noting that all the knights had now disapeared behind the tree line, he opens his mouth to speak "merlin?" He asks to make sure the man was alright, and hadn't passed out due to the adrenaline wearing off "hmm?" was the response he got and saw that merlin had tilted his head so that arthur knew he was listening "i wanted to thank you for saving my life" he says, watching as one side of merlins mouth querks up into a smile before he mutters something too quiet for him to catch "would you let me knight you?" He asks, causing merlins eyes to shoot open and stare at him as if he'd lost his mind.

Arthur waits for the mans mind to catch up with everything, watching as his mouth opens and closes rapidly before a soft "huh?" Is heard causing him to snort quietly "eloquent as ever" he says playfully before raising an eyebrow, which makes merlins already wide eyes widen even more making him look like the startled stoat that arthur always jokes about, the silence stretches for longer than arthur was expecting but eventually merlin speaks "you're serious? You think my sword skills are that good?" He asks looking slightly overwhelmed at the idea. 

Arthur makes a note to compliment him whenever he gets the chance in future "merlin I've never seen a fighting style like that in my life" he says as he sits in front of him and smiles softly when merlin meets his gaze "not only are you excellent with a sword, the camaraderie you showed was like no other" he adds before leaning forward to pat him on the shoulder.

Merlin had relaxed slightly now and looked slightly curious about something "am i to duel you?" he asks, knowing that was something almost all knights had to do to prove themselves before being knighted "indeed you will" arthur answers, grabbing lancelot's sword that was stuck in the dirt nearby and held it out for merlin to take "not too shaky are you?" He asks to make sure his friend is truly alright after the previous fight not even an hour ago, there was a look of determination in merlin's eyes when he stood and took the sword from his hand.

Moving away to give it an experimental swing before nodding to himself "course not sire, not to nervous to go against a servant are you?" He sasses back, before realising that riling up the man he was about to fight probably wasnt a good idea "as if" arthur scoffs as he grabs his sword and twirls it for a few seconds "you've to last a minute, good luck merlin" he says as he noticed elyan, who was hiding behind a tree nod at him which told him the knights were going to time them. 

He was suprised that merlin made the first move but blocked just as quick, now up against him he could see when merlin was calculating his next move but arthur never saw it coming when merlin swung or moved, he wasn't as aggressive against arthur as he was the bandits "c'mon merlin you can do better than that surely" he says as he had no qualms with riling his opponents up in order to see how good they were, merlin grunted as he picked up his pace and it was then that arthur saw the skills he had witnessed earlier. 

Now it was him on the offensive having to duck or be quicker on his feet "so you arn't a girls petticoat after all then" he says before ducking and rolling out the way of the on coming sword, theres a growl as merlin moved forwards faster then he was anticipating, causing him to become unbalanced and giving merlin the upper hand as he wrapped a leg around arthurs foot which sent him to the ground. 

He was quick to move into a roll, getting to his feet a few steps away and saw the suprise in merlin's eyes. As if arthur would ever let it be that easy, suprise changed to determination and annoyance as merlin charged forwards and the fight began again. It wasn't long before merlin's swings became slightly more sluggish, but even then the force and strength arthur could feel as he blocked and parried each one was intense, merlin with what strenth he had left, swung their swords around and much to Arthur's suprise managed to knock Excalibur clear out of his hands, whilst using the weight that he put into his front foot to push arthur to the floor and hold his sword close to his neck. 

There was a whistle, coming from elyan that signaled that it had been a minute. Merlin took a step back and offered a hand to help him up which arthur happily took, waiting for merlin to sass him over his obvious win but it never came, instead arthur was suprised to find the man looking nervous, though there was a smirk starting to grow telling him that he wouldn't be hearing the end of this for the rest of the day at least "congratulations merlin, you're a step closer to becoming a knight" he says giving the man a pat on the shoulder that he deserved, the knights who must have all been watching all whooped before coming into view, spooking merlin as he didn't realise that any of them had returned from where ever they'd disapeared to.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a few days later that arthur and merlin had another duel, this time in front of camelot just to see how well merlin did when there were more distractions around him. Arthur had purposly been riling merlin up most of the morning and that showed when they fought, it was much more fast paced than the one in the forest had been and arthur began memorizing all the calls and cries merlin did during a simple duel, he'd already heard his battle cry days earlier. Merlin didn't manage to knock arthur to the ground this time around, though he suspected that was due to how many guards were around and the fact that he saw how well it went for lancelot when he did it. 

Arthur was suprised at just how many of camelots people began cheering, when he once again told merlin that he was even closer to becoming a knight, there was a proud smile on the man's face and arthur saw him get a pat on the back from gaius who had been watching from the very start. When he returned to his chambers he found gwen at the table writing and george, who would become their new manservant once merlin was knighted, doing chores. 

Gwen looked up at the sound of the door opening and smiled "i could hear the cheers from here, it went well i suppose?" She asks looking amused as he sat beside her, kissing her knuckles before replying "thats twice he's won me in a duel now, i think the people of camelot are rather excited about this" she lets out a soft chuckle as she sets her quill down to give him her full attention "well the last time you knighted people they didnt get to see it" she says half jokingly half serious, though she still felt honoured to have seen it all these years later. 

Arthur smiles slightly at that before he got to work on the paper work involved for a knight ceremony, the two of them working in sync occasionally breaking the comfortable silence to ask about the others day or to ask a question, in Arthur's case it was to grumble about the joke george made before leaving the room leaving a bewildered gwen and an exasperated arthur in his wake. It took hours to finish all the paperwork and even then he had to take it to Geoffrey and then to gaius to ensure everything was correct. 

It then took almost 3 days to get all of merlin's chainmail, armour, sword and cape sorted, though he couldn't find the man so that he could see that it actually fit him properly. He searched the entire castle and even went to the three nearest taverns to see if he was there. He wasn't but gwaine was and soon joined in the search, he was eventually found by gwen, at the other end of the castle where no one else thought to look as he was nervous of the upcoming ceremony, but after a long talk that the two of them hadn't been able to have since she'd become queen, he was back to bouncing around the castle and amusing anyone that came across him. 

Arthur finally managed to get him into the chainmail and helped him with the armour, merlin seemed to relax the longer he was in the stuff and was usually seen walking or running around in it as he got used to it. It was a month later that arthur stood in the throne room, gwen sitting on her throne as the crowd settled and waiting for merlin to enter the room, the atmosphere was already filled with excitement and slight nervousness, hunith who was at the very front between gaius and lancelot looked as if she was about to burst into proud tears at any second. Arthur looks up and out at the crowd as the doors open, watching merlin walk towards them slowly messing with the cape as he gets to the very front and kneels down. 

It's then the murmers stop and the excitement grows so much arthur can't help the smile that fights it's way onto his face, he can see merlin trying and failing to stay serious as he puts his sword on either of the mans shoulders, smile growing as he finally utters the words "arise sir merlin, knight of camelot" the roar that comes after merlin had turned to face the crowd, was unlike anything that arthur or merlin himself had ever heard in their lives.


End file.
